Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just sitting here at my computer, scrolling through holiday card templates and weeping. While there are still lots of the standard designs, some of the messaging has shifted to address the very significant year we’ve been having. Some are humorous, referencing Zoom meetings or qauarnteams or that “everything is fine” dog-sitting-cheerfully-amid-the-flames meme. But the more prevalent feeling is poignancy, I think. I am seeing a lot of messages embracing togetherness, a lot of very simple cards (just the name of the sender, or a moderate “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings”), a lot of messages about gratitude or thankfulness or hope. The one that made the tearfulness slip over into sobbing was one that said in bold, reassuring letters: Love is all around us. Oh jeez, and after I wrote this whole post and had calmed down and was looking for a photo to put at the top, I came across one that said: You are essential to us always. And I lost it again.
It seems fair and reasonable and maybe necessary that the messaging of this year’s holiday greetings would be different: gentler, more hopeful, more restrained. Yet I have such a complicated mix of feelings in response: tenderness, toward the designers who have so carefully crafted these messages of love and solidarity, and toward the people who choose them. Petulant anger that we need to have specialized messaging at all. Sadness that we can’t be with our loved ones this year, and grief for those whose loved ones have been lost forever. Resignation that even though this strange mostly-awful year is coming to a close, things aren’t BETTER yet. Determination to celebrate and be joyful nonetheless.
My husband, who does not particularly like the holiday card tradition in normal years, is even more against them than usual. On the other hand, I feel like maybe they are more crucial now than ever. My mother says they are not just the yearly hello from friends and loved ones, near and distant – now, they are an important touchpoint. We’re not just wishing one another happy holidays, we are saying, “We are alive, we have so far made it through, if not unscathed at least with enough left over to send out a seasonal card.” For me, sending holiday cards (and receiving them!!!!) has always been one of my favorite traditions of the season. And I am CLINGING to normalcy and tradition here, to help me power through the last few months of what is, dear lord in heaven please make it so, a very unusual and upsetting outlier of a year.
Of course, I completely understand the opposite feeling. That this year was so rough that it’s hard to know how to acknowledge it. That it may feel almost off-puttingly cheerful to send out a message about the holidays when these holidays are so full of unaccustomed stress and uncertainty. That we are all doing everything we can just to make it to 2021, and trying to send out holiday cards is just another expenditure of time and money and energy that we don’t necessarily have.
So I get it. This may not be the year for holiday cards for many people, and that makes total sense. But I’ve come down on the side of wanting to do them. For me, it’s an important point of connection. And in a year where so many of those connections have been severed, I crave it more than ever. I haven’t yet persuaded my husband to my way of thinking. (He is the photographer, so I kind of need his buy-in.) But I am working on it.
What are you doing, cards-wise, this year? And, whatever it is, is it a break with tradition? And, if you are sending out cards, what kind of messaging are you considering?
100% yes I am doing them and I’m hoping to receive many although I absolutely acknowledge it’s a bridge too far for many people this year. I went with a humorous nod to the crazy – even taking my kids out to snap the photos was a shit show so I just went with it.
I have seen several cards that hilariously acknowledge what a shitshow this year has been and I am here for it.
I am sending cards this year! But I opted for a post-card rather than a card-with-envelope….Slightly more budget friendly, slightly more environmentally friendly….Although I probably would have gotten the regular card-with-envelope if I had realized ahead of time that the USPS does *not* sell holiday post-card stamps.
I LOVE receiving Christmas cards, so I try to send mine out a little early (they arrived today! Hurray!) to encourage others to send one back….If not entirely reciprocal, I at least am actively sending the message, “you are on my list, I hope I’m on yours!)
I am on Team MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. Not only are they a holiday tradition that can be done despite the pandemic, but they’re a way to connect to people we can’t see in person. But I ALSO totally understand if people Cannot Even with them this year.
I am going with Whatever Cards I Have Leftover/Pre-Purchased, so that will be exciting to see when I get that box out of the attic! And a family Christmas photo as usual (we’re using a tripod). I considered something like “everyone wearing masks!” but it seemed…off. Posed. Theatrical.
I’m mailing early because the USPS is piloted by someone appointed by this current administration, so.
This post made me order Christmas cards for the first time in over a decade. I’m thinking it would be so nice to receive them, so I wanted to give people that feeling.
Picked an image of a fully decked out Christmas tree in a desert canyon… seemed to be the feeling of this Christmas in the midst of covid. I know you were agonizing over doing it or not- but it helped me to decide to commit to them this year!
I don’t usually do holiday cards and I’m not huge on decorating but this year I’m going all out. We need to find small joys after such rough times.
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards, and this year is no exception. Like Swistle, I am mailing early (for the same reasons). I actually received my first card last week (!!) and it was such a bright spot in my day.
I haven’t done a letter since my kids were young; when I did, they were always humorous and never braggy — usually just a funny recap of life with toddlers. I love getting letters though! I never read them with a judgmental eye; having written my fair share, I know the main point is to share happy/good stuff, plus I know the senders fairly well and know it’s not in their nature to be the bragging type.
Now that we are old (56 me/65 Dave) my handwritten notes in cards tend to be about grandkids. 🙂
I am absolutely doing cards, I do them every year but I find it more important than ever. However, I have culled my list to “only people who send back to me” – I mean, that is generally the case but I’ve given some rhythm to some people over the years.
Yes, YES…This year is especially important to let our friends and family know we are still here. I’ve had a particularly bad time for the past 2 months with various health issues that just won’t quit. I want to send out my annual tongue in cheek Christmas letter to let people know I have survived…so far…
Hoping your health improves <3
Yes, I’m basically just echoing what everyone else is saying. I love sending (and receiving) holiday cards and I think it’s more important than ever this year. I tend to believe that there’s no Christmas prep until after Thanksgiving, though, so I honestly haven’t thought much about it except to wistfully note that we won’t have a ton of photos to choose from because, you know, we never leave our house and almost all our photos are of the cat and dog. I guess maybe the photos will just be those two since they’re the ones who have benefited the most this year!
You can’t go wrong with fuzzy cute pets in a card…
Without a doubt, I will be doing them. There may not be a family photo – but oh well. I’ve been trying to send random notes of encouragements in recent months and feel like Christmas cards that show up in someone’s mailbox will brighten that someone’s day as does any other unexpected personal mail.
YES. Photos are GREAT but not necessary!
I haven’t been able to deal with getting a Christmas card together for the past several years, but I will make an effort to at least send a simple one back this year for any that I receive, to express my relief that the sender was still around to send a card this year and let them know that my family is still here too.
How timely. We just took our Christmas card photos this afternoon, so as you can guess, yes we are doing cards. I don’t know what I would have done if Trump had won the election, maybe cards with no letter, but I now I can summon enough joy and hope for the future to do both.
I hope to take a decent family picture this weekend and send out cards. Definitely looking forward to hanging mine on the pantry door where I always hang them. One of my favorite parts about Christmas is getting cards! 🙂 I’ve never done a long letter, but I do like to hand-write something on the inside if I can find the time. I used to try to have a “theme” and all of my cards have something about music (a little choir of angels, say) in the illustration. That went by the wayside when photo cards started being the thing; I like getting the photo cards, but don’t like feeling the pressure of everyone with professional photos (we hardly ever do them, ourselves. I’m definitely shortchanging our kids and our card-recipients, but eh, iPhone photos are pretty good these days).